The Best Free Alternative to Epidemic Sound
You've probably heard of Epidemic Sound. Millions of creators use it, and for good reason. But there's a newer platform called SoundMarket that's been quietly building something worth paying attention to. Here's what you need to know before deciding between the two.
Epidemic Sound vs Soundmarket - what you need to know.
Table of Contents
Pricing
Let's start with the obvious one. Epidemic Sound's Personal plan runs $9.99 a month on an annual plan, or $19.99 month to month. That covers YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram for personal use. Commercial use (paid ads, client work, etc) bumps you up to $16.99 a month annually. TV broadcasting means contacting them for an Enterprise quote.
SoundMarket takes a different approach and may be the best Epidemic Sound alternative. Their Creator plan is completely free, permanently, with no credit card required and no watermarks on the music. You get access to their full catalog across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. The catch is that your videos will receive copyright claims until you upgrade. If your channel is already monetized, that matters. If you're just starting out and not yet monetized, it's a non-issue, and once you're ready to upgrade, those claims get resolved, and your channel is cleared.
From there, the paid tiers look like this:
Creator Plus: $7.99/month annually ($12.99 month to month). Clears one YouTube channel, unlimited downloads, 24-bit WAV files, and full social media coverage.
Professional: $14.99/month annually ($24.99 month to month). Adds commercial use for paid ads and client work, stems, pre-cut 15/30/60-second track versions, alternative mixes for dialogue-heavy content, and clearance for up to five YouTube channels.
Enterprise: Custom pricing for organizations and agencies.
Comparing the entry paid tiers annually, SoundMarket's free plan is hard to argue with. And even when comparing paid options, Creator Plus at $7.99 undercuts Epidemic Sound's $9.99, while offering features that arguably make it the stronger value at that price point.
What Each Platform Is Actually Selling
SoundMarket's pitch is a little different from what you'd expect. They aren't just another royalty-free library built for YouTube. Their catalog was built for high-budget productions: Google, Disney, the NBA, HBO, Samsung, Microsoft, Epic Games. Grammy, Emmy, Juno, and ASCAP award-winning composers. Music from Game of Thrones trailers and Fortnite. Their value proposition is basically: prestige-level music, now available to individual creators.
Epidemic Sound built its catalog specifically for online content from the start. Over 50,000 tracks, 200,000 sound effects, all owned by them, all cleared for monetization with no copyright headaches. Their pitch is volume, variety, and simplicity.
Two genuinely different promises. Neither one is wrong, they're just built for different things.
Feature Breakdown
Catalog Quality This is the biggest differentiator. Epidemic Sound's music was made to function as background tracks for online content. It's well-produced, and it works, but that's the intent. SoundMarket's catalog came from the opposite direction. It was made for commercial and entertainment productions, then licensed down to creators. If you've ever felt like royalty-free music all sounds the same, SoundMarket is probably what you've been looking for.
The Free Plan Epidemic Sound doesn't have a permanent free tier. SoundMarket does. As mentioned above, the free plan comes with copyright claims, which only matters if your channel is currently monetized. For a creator who wants to explore a catalog before committing financially, having that option is a real advantage.
Stems Both platforms offer stems, but the access points are very different. Epidemic Sound includes stems on every paid plan starting at $9.99 a month. SoundMarket locks stems behind the Professional plan at $24.99 a month. If stems are a regular part of your editing workflow, Epidemic Sound wins this one clearly.
Pre-Cut Tracks This goes to SoundMarket. Their Professional plan includes pre-cut 15, 30, and 60-second versions of tracks, plus alternative mixes designed for dialogue-heavy content, meaning no competing lead instruments or vocals when you're talking on camera. Epidemic Sound has the Adapt feature in Labs for remixing on-platform, which is useful, but having pre-cut versions ready to drop in is a different kind of useful when you're editing on deadline.
Commercial Use Coverage At the comparable paid tier, both platforms get you to commercial use, but at different price points. Epidemic Sound covers paid ads and client work at $16.99, while SoundMarket requires the $24.99 Professional plan. That gap matters if commercial use is a consistent part of your work. That said, SoundMarket's Professional plan also covers indie film and event use at that same price, something Epidemic Sound pushes toward Enterprise.
Sound Effects Epidemic Sound wins this without much debate. 200,000 sound effects versus SoundMarket, which is primarily a music platform. If sound design is a meaningful part of your post-production process, Epidemic Sound is the more complete toolkit.
AI Features Epidemic Sound has been building out AI tools: search by video, the Adapt remix tool, AI Voices, and their Labs suite. SoundMarket doesn't appear to have AI features baked in yet. If AI-assisted workflows are part of how you work, Epidemic Sound is further along here.
Who Each Platform Is Actually For
Epidemic Sound is the right call if you want a proven platform with a massive catalog, straightforward licensing, and tools built to help you find the right music fast. It's also the stronger choice if sound effects matter to your workflow, or if stems are something you use regularly and you don't want to pay $24.99 a month to access them.
SoundMarket is worth a serious look if you're just starting out and don't have a music budget yet, or if you're a creator who's been underwhelmed by what royalty-free music typically sounds like. If you make content for clients, produce ads, or simply want your videos to feel like they belong somewhere other than a stock footage reel, the catalog quality alone is a reason to explore it.
Either way, the free plan makes the decision easy; there's no reason not to go check it out before committing to anything.
Is It Worth It?
If Epidemic Sound is already working for you, there's no urgent reason to switch. It's a well-built platform with a catalog and track record that speaks for itself.
But if you've never looked at SoundMarket, the free tier gives you a low-risk way to find out whether it's the right fit and serves as a great Epidemic Sound alternative. If the catalog delivers on what their credentials suggest, the upgrade to Creator Plus at $7.99 a month is a reasonable ask for unlimited downloads, 24-bit files, and full channel clearance.
Take Epidemic Sound and SoundMarket for a test drive and drop your thoughts in the comments. We’d genuinely like to know which one you end up preferring.
-
Yes, but licensing terms vary significantly across platforms. Most free alternatives allow monetization, but require attribution in video descriptions to maintain commercial use rights. A common pattern is that channels monetizing content need the free tier with proper credits, while removing attribution requirements typically requires upgrading to a paid plan. Always verify the specific platform's commercial use policy before publishing.
-
The library size varies considerably, with leading free alternatives offering 10,000+ tracks across multiple genres. What typically happens is that creators find sufficient variety for standard content, though niche genres or highly specific moods may have limited options compared to premium libraries.
-
Epidemic Sound has dominated the creator music space, but it's not your only option. While the platform offers a robust catalog and straightforward licensing, its pricing structure increasingly pushes solo creators and small teams toward more budget-friendly solutions. Monthly subscriptions starting at $15–20 may seem reasonable until you're managing multiple channels or operating on tight margins.
Red 11 Media is an educational platform and creative studio focused on driving growth online through strategic content creation. We help creators, brands, and businesses understand how to build sustainable audiences across YouTube, podcasting, and long-form digital content.
